1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



805 



noi tell. There is something in the pursuit 

 itself — something in our passionate love for it— 

 that makes us proud and happy to tell and 

 teach it to others. J We are like the victims of 

 anim al magnetism, or hypnotism, as .it is now 

 called. )AVe are junder athe will of a master 

 whom we can not resist. "iNow,;here is 'just 

 where the insanity comes in. Every 1000 pounds 

 of honey that is produced— in excess of the year 

 before— brings down the price of honey. Every 

 new bee-keeper who is started in ;business 

 brings~down the price of honey. Why, then, 

 are we insane enough to start them? Our 

 teachings, and our figures showing large gains, 

 do the business, and a rival is raised up by our 

 own hands to compete with us in the same mar- 

 ket, with a product just as good as ours. But 

 although I know it is so. I never could feel that 

 a bee-keeper was a rival of mine. But he is to 

 all intents and purposes; for if I had no rivals 

 I could now get a dollar a pouud for honey. It 

 was once two dollars on this coast; and it is 

 within the memory of living men when it was 

 50 cents in the markets of the Eastern States. 

 What reduced ii to its present insigniScant 

 price, but an influx of amateurs into the call- 

 ing? An amateur soon becomes a proficient, 

 when there is money ahead of him. If this 

 mania were only confined to those whose inter- 

 est it is to make more bee-keepers, there would 

 not be such an enormous increase in their num- 

 ber. For one they make, bee-keepers them- 

 selves make a hundred. Even I — Skylark- 

 when I ran short of undeveloped intellect, did 

 some pn-achlng to an audience of one on this 

 subject, thus: 



"Yes. friend Rollins" (he was rich, but still 

 had an itching palm for the almighty dollar), 

 "bee-keeping is belter than a gold-mine; for 

 after you get the mine, and put on it and in it 

 thousands of dollars, you don't know when 

 your load or vein may run out, and leave you 

 with thousands of dollars' worth of expensive 

 macTiinery onliandTcj You have a large ro'ugh 

 lot of mountain land covered with black sage — 

 the best pasturage in t he world for bees. Wha t 

 would you think of a man who had thousands 

 of acres of good pasture for horses and cattle, 

 and not a single head of stock on it? " 

 D" Well,jSkylark, I declare you have opened 

 my eyes. I never looked at it in that light 

 before; but I see clearly now that I am losing 

 money." 



"Losing money! I should think there were 

 thousands of dollars going to waste on that 

 land every year." 



" Well, .Skylark, give me an idea of the prob- 

 abilities of bee-keeping, so I shall not go into 

 it blindly. I want to see my way clearly to 

 success. You know I have money to go into 

 the business on a large scale. When a man 

 wants to make money there is no use in playing 

 with copper cents." 



" No, copper cents don't count up fast enough. 

 How many colonies would you begin? " 



" Well, Skylark, I will buy a thousand hives, 

 as this promises to be a good year— say, a thou- 

 sand." 



" Well, if you never lose any bees, and double 

 every year, the rate of increase and amount of 

 honey — 100 pounds to the hive— might be as 

 follows: 



Colonies. Increase to Honev, lbs. 



1st year 1,000 2,000 100,000 



3d •' 3,(JO0 4.000 300.000 



3d " 4,000 8.000 400.000 



4th " 8.000 16,000 800,000 



.5th " 10.000 33.000 1,(500.000 



(3ch " 32,000 04,000 3.200,000 



" The sixth year, according to this, you would 



have 3,200,000 lbs. of honey. At even ten cents 



per pound this would be an income of $320,000 a 



year, besides the $310,000 made in the preceding 



five years. Ciesar Augustus! What a world of 



bees and honey! Why, you could control the 



honey market of the world; establish houses 



for its sale in all the principal cities in Europe 



and America; buy up all the honey that is 



offered below your price, and then corner the 



market, and have it all your own way." 



"Skylark, you are a brick. T never thought 

 you had such extensive schemes in your brain. 

 I see now it is only the want of capital that 

 keeps you down, or you would be one of the 

 richest men on the continent." 



" Yes, friend Rollins, you say truly it is the 

 want of capital tnat keeps me down. Just now 

 I want a round 1000 dollars. Can you lend it to 

 me? It would be a great accommodation, and 

 place me under great obligations to you." 



" Well, Skylark— ahem ! — er— Skylark — er— I 

 have invested all my money except what I shall 

 need in this business. It would be impossible, 

 but I am very sorry." 



Now, I knew his check was as good as gold, 

 from San Diego to Puget Sound; but just look 

 at the meanness of the man. After I had put 

 him in the way, and given him my full permis- 

 sion to make •'?320,000 annually, besides the 

 $310,000 which he had made in the preceding 

 five years — to refuse me the loan of a paltry 

 thousand dollars! The deep ingratitude of 

 some men is incomprehensible. Shall I give 

 him a stunner, now, that will knock the stilts 

 from under him, or let him go on and buy the 

 1000 hives and lose his money? Mr. Editor, 

 my undeveloped intellect pointed one way, and 

 my kind benevolent heart pulled another. 



"Rollins," I called out to him, as he turned 

 to go away, " look here a moment." 

 " All right. Skylark, what is it?" 

 " Well, be careful about your speculation in 

 bees, for there are many losses you are not 

 aware of at the present time." 



" Why, Skylark, I thought it was all plain 

 sailing. I get the bees, and they work for 

 nothing and board themselves — isn't that the 

 idea?" 



